DR Congo and the IMF will co-host a high-level conference on the “Management of Natural Resources in Sub-Saharan Africa”, on March 21-22, 2012 in Kinshasa. The event will bring together policy makers, stakeholders, academics, and civil society from around the world.

The African continent contains about 30 percent of the world’s global rainforests, second only to the Amazon. Scientists and conservationists met at Oxford University to discuss changes the forests are expected to undergo in the 21st Century. Africa’s tropical forests face challenges from deforestation, hunting, logging and mining, as well as climate change.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has the capacity to become the driving force of Africa’s economic development if its vast forests, water resources and trillions of dollars worth of mineral reserves are used prudently, according to the findings of a United Nations assessment released today.

Seeking a second term in office in November, President Joseph Kabila pledged to make the Democratic Republic of Congo an emerging country on Wednesday during a speech to the nation in Kingakati, east of Kinshasa, attended by members of his political family.

Top officials from more than 35 nations covering the world’s three major rainforest regions will gather at a United Nations-backed conference next month to discuss the common challenges faced by these vital ecosystems that support more than a billion people.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has rejected a bid by the UK's Soco International to search for oil in the Virunga National Park, a World Heritage site home to rare mountain gorillas.

Despite often severe adversities, many African countries have made often overlooked progress in recent decades. However, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia and Zimbabwe are the only countries with lower Human Development Index values today than in 1970, due to the deadly combination of conflict and AIDS driving down life expectancy.

The head of the National Conference of Bishops (CENCO), Bishop Nicolas Djomo, said during a press conference in Kinshasa on Monday that the Catholic Church in the Democratic Republic of Congo is determined to campaign for the recently enacted U.S. law on ‘conflict minerals’, so that it is applied in the DRC.

The "Play for Life" campaign focuses on Africa, a continent that hosts exceptional biodiversity including two of the five most important wilderness areas on earth, the Congo Basin, and Miombo-Mopane Woodlands and Savannas of Southern Africa.

The Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo are losing at least $12m annually in tax avoidance by logging companies, Greenpeace says. The environmental group says it has evidence showing how firms like German-owned Danzer group have set up "elaborate profit-laundering schemes".